Rogers Park has been mostly safe in the decade or so I've lived there. But I need to tell myself that if I want a patty melt at 10pm on a Friday night, I should just close my eyes and imagine I'm eating one instead of taking a walk for a couple of blocks to the late night sub shop down the street until they catch this guy/guys.

I beat a camel to death with a monkey. Can I do that?
-Mr Bismarck

You have to whack a few rabbits before you are ready to punch a camel.
-Coopasonic

Rogers Park has been mostly safe in the decade or so I've lived there. But I need to tell myself that if I want a patty melt at 10pm on a Friday night, I should just close my eyes and imagine I'm eating one instead of taking a walk for a couple of blocks to the late night sub shop down the street until they catch this guy/guys.

If it makes you feel any better, in my boring neighborhood there was an armed car jacking at the end of my block early Tuesday morning.
I have to admit, it doesn't make me feel all that great.

Anyone following the case of Jussie Smollett? The actor from Empire said he was attached on January 29th, 2018 at around 2am in downtown Chicago by two white males who used racial and homophobic slurs, put a noose around his neck, doused him with an unknown bleach smelling liquid, and said something like "This is MAGA country!"

There were a lot is issues right off the bat, not the least of which were why two supposed racists would be trolling for victims at 2am in below freezing weather on deserted streets in one of the least "MAGA-country" cities in the US. Then there was the complete lack of the attackers on surveillance cameras that blanket the area and he attack happened to take place in a rare blind spot. There was his odd behavior, like getting a sandwich afterwards and waiting 40 minutes before calling police and still wearing the noose (clothesline tied in a knot) around his neck when they arrived.

But Smollett stuck to the story with such defiance that it seemed maybe it was true. Plus his manager said he was on the phone with him at the time and backed up the narrative. CPD devoted considerable resources to the case (12 detectives I think?), given the high profile nature of the incident.

Smollett this week turned over "heavily redacted" phone records from the night of the alleged attack. Guglielmi said the submitted documents did not meet the burden of a criminal investigation. Investigators already received Smollett's complete phone records via a subpoena served on his service provider, according to a source quoted by CWBChicago on Feb. 4.

A source familiar with the records provided by the Empire star states that Smollett downloaded his phone activity into a spreadsheet and then deleted certain phone calls before handing over the records. “He did the [detectives’] job for them because then they only had to focus on the numbers he deleted.”

UPDATE 5:18PM—Charlie De Mar of CBSChicago reports that police raided the home of the two "persons of interest" last night, seizing bleach, a wallet with stamps, a magazine, computers, and more. A relative of the men told De Mar that the two left for Nigeria on the day of the purported attack.

Still developing but it keeps getting weirder.

" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. MertonMYT

It seemed a little too staged from the get go. Who carries bleach and a homemade noose around at 2am in the winter? Plus, why would the victim then walk around wearing said homemade noose for an hour or two?

I beat a camel to death with a monkey. Can I do that?
-Mr Bismarck

You have to whack a few rabbits before you are ready to punch a camel.
-Coopasonic

CPD denying all reports. However they've been doing this from the start so take it FWIW.

On Thursday, a ABC7 Chicago report citing “multiple sources” said that Empire star Jussie Smollett may have orchestrated his own attack in order to avoid having his character written off. But almost immediately following its publication, Chicago police and writers for Empire denied the validity of those reports.

" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. MertonMYT

And he said the "attackers" yelled out "Hey Empire dude" or some such.
He's delusional if he thinks anyone who is truly racist would watch Empire and recognize him at 2 a.m. on a freezing empty Chicago street.

And he said the "attackers" yelled out "Hey Empire dude" or some such.
He's delusional if he thinks anyone who is truly racist would watch Empire and recognize him at 2 a.m. on a freezing empty Chicago street.

That was a new addition during his recent TV appearance (GMA on Thursday I think). Wasn't in the initial police report or subsequent police interviews or other interviews.

" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. MertonMYT

Authorities also told ABC that the suspects "have a relationship with" Smollett but did not offer specifics. According to CNN, they are two Nigerian brothers, and CBS 2 Chicago reports they have worked as extras on Empire.

Two brothers, Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo and Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo, have been identified as the men taken into custody by Chicago police for questioning as “potential persons of interest” in last month's purported hate crime attack of Empire TV start Jussie Smollett.

The Osundairos spent the night in police custody and are expected to undergo questioning again today, but neither has been charged with any crime in connection with the Smollett case. Police need to either charge or release the brothers before 5:45 p.m. tonight—that's when the Osundairos will have been in custody for 48 hours, the typical cut-off point for police to hold a person without charging in the United States.

Smollett follows the brothers on social media and the Osundairos’ attorney told CBSChicago yesterday that the men sometimes work out at a gym with Smollett.

" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. MertonMYT

Like CPD doesn't have enough do already without shit like this. I hope they throw the book at him.

Sources told CBS 2 News that Smollett paid the two men $3,500 to stage the attack in Streeterville. The brothers, seen on surveillance video near the scene of the alleged attack, told investigators Smollett directed them to buy the rope used in the incident, and paid for the purchase at Crafty Beaver Hardware Store in Ravenswood days before the incident.

All three men rehearsed their plan just days before everything played out.

Sunday night, police released a statement saying they “are not in a position to confirm, deny or comment on the validity of what’s been unofficially released.”

No, it should be treated like a crime. Why punish those who are actually victimized because of the color of their skin, their religion or who they love by trivializing the crime in situations like this.

I beat a camel to death with a monkey. Can I do that?
-Mr Bismarck

You have to whack a few rabbits before you are ready to punch a camel.
-Coopasonic

This is EBG. You should take that shit over to R&P. We know you have zero outside life beyond trolling on the internet, but some of us on OO actually have other interests and don't spend a significant portion of our time here trying to piss people off.

I beat a camel to death with a monkey. Can I do that?
-Mr Bismarck

You have to whack a few rabbits before you are ready to punch a camel.
-Coopasonic

In a conversation on Feb. 8th, before police met with brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, a leading source within the Smollett attack investigation called the hate crime a "false flag" and said “There is a direct line between (the letter) and (the purported attack)." In the same conversation, the source hinted at what was to come: "This is not a whodunit. It's a how-many-people-dunit."

Whoever mailed the letter "made an enormous mistake," we were told. Federal charges were "certain."

...

A law firm partner who asked not to be identified by name spoke with us about the federal problems ahead for whoever mailed the letter: “If they have Smollett on the letter, he’ll be facing ’terroristic hoax’ charges, a felony. There may be federal obstruction charges as well.”

All in all, the federal legal options are numerous: “If they want to bury him, they can.”

" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General"No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. MertonMYT

"Out of an abundance of caution, the decision to recuse herself was made to address potential questions of impartiality based upon familiarity with potential witnesses in the case," a spokeswoman told ABC News via email.

"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow

In fairness to politicians, Smollett politicized things first, and with his visibility and the public's interest in the case, it warranted increased effort.

Don't blame politicians for increased effort regarding celebrity cases, blame the public. They're the ones that create the motivation for special treatment. If the public thought all cases were equally important, all cases would be treated equally (outside of cases that are personal to the people on charge of course).

I agree with the article's sentiment, I just can't get behind scapegoating "politicians" for it.

He's exploiting the little kid for his own political point scoring article. Next week another little kid will be shot in the head. Let me know if the author utters a peep for him. Or the one after that. Or the one after that.

Like I said, I agree that all cases should be treated as equally important. That they are not is not the fault of "politicians".

Like I said, I agree that all cases should be treated as equally important. That they are not is not the fault of "politicians".

Yes it is, at least in Chicago. The police super, basically a clout management specialist, reports to the mayor, a professional politician. The SA is a politician. They assigned all those detectives to the case.

Politicians make decisions based on potential votes and money. That's on them, not on the voters and contributors.

CHICAGO (CBS) — “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett turned himself in to Chicago police early Thursday morning, hours after he was charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself last month in Streeterville.

Smollett turned himself in at the Central District police station at 18th and State streets around 5 a.m., police said. He made no statement to police.

Yes it is, at least in Chicago. The police super, basically a clout management specialist, reports to the mayor, a professional politician. The SA is a politician. They assigned all those detectives to the case.

Politicians make decisions based on potential votes and money. That's on them, not on the voters and contributors.

So you're saying that they make decisions based on how people will vote, but that's not the voters' fault, is that right?

My point wasn't that politicians aren't in charge, my point was that politicians are giving the public what they want, with the resources available. They very clearly are free to assign additional or reduced resources based on personal whim. But that's the power we've given them and want them to have. That is also not their fault.

It makes sense to complain that not all cases are treated equally, because they're not, but we aren't willing to accept responsibility for why that's true, and instead externalize the blame to "politicians" which is complete bullshit when a specific situation is highlighted.

The truth is it's not reasonable to expect every case to be treated as equally serious. In cities with high crime rates, that's even more true, not less when compared to smaller cities and/or less crime rate.

Barring clearly corrupt misuse of resources for personal gain, prioritizing and resource management and allocation is going to happen and we want it to happen. Can you imagine what the media and thus public would have done if "the politicians" had simply ignored this high profile, celebrity, racially charged case and treated like just another on the pile, first in, first out? The shit storm might have been so severe as to result in a forced resignation or simply changing of the guard during the next election.

That's not the fault of "the politicians". That's what we the people want, whether we admit it to ourselves or not.

I know he has been charged with a felony but shoulodn't faking a hate crime be a hate crime in itself? He thought it through, he stuck to it, he knew it would get him sympathy and would get hate for another race. Seems a hate crime to me.

And if you start using hate crime laws simply out of spite, we're effectively trivializing them. He's got enough bad karma and punishment by the law in his future. Let's not hurt someone else who could benefit from the use of hate crime laws when they're victimized due to small minded prejudice.

I beat a camel to death with a monkey. Can I do that?
-Mr Bismarck

You have to whack a few rabbits before you are ready to punch a camel.
-Coopasonic